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One of the most common frustrations with knitting is spending many hours and resources on a project only to find out that it doesn’t really fit once finished. Hands up if this happened to you, too? When finished measurements just aren’t quite right, this often has to do with your gauge. But even if you carefully swatched (more on swatching here) and got the correct gauge (more on why gauge is so very important here), there are a few things worth thinking about before casting on to make sure your finished handknits fits perfectly!

We’re all about consuming less and making the things we own last, and when we add something to our life, we wan to make sure that it’ll truly bring us joy! Reflecting on what new additions did just that over the past year is something we hope will help with making choices in the following year (and maybe you’ll find some of our recommendations helpful, too?), so we wanted to share our favourite beauty, fashion, home, making and miscellaneous additions from 2018. We’d also love to hear, what did you add to your life this past year that you’d buy, gift or make again and again in a heartbeat?

You learned everything about gauge and why it’s so important, and now you’re ready to make a swatch? Here’s what you should know about swatching!

A swatch is a first trial, a little preview of the project you’re about to begin, if you will. We make them for different reasons: to try out new needles or a new yarn; to see how specific stitch patterns, stitch pattern combinations, colourwork motifs or construction methods knit up when designing, improvising or customising; or to determine our gauge. Remember: the way you hold and tension your yarn, the style you knit, the needle size and material you use and many other factors all affect your gauge! There’s of course always the option of intentionally working at a different gauge than what the pattern states, be it because you prefer the fabric knit up at a different gauge or to customise the finished piece’s size (we’ll get to that later this month!), but for now, we’ll assume that you’re working from a knitting pattern that specifies a gauge you’re aiming to meet.

Did I mention just how much I adore making plans? From to-do lists for a day to dreaming big for the next couple of years, I love them all. Believe me or not, I might be able to fill the better part of an hour telling you about what hairstyles I plan wearing for the rest of my life, year by year. My planning obsession has proven to be very helpful countless times (not exactly planning out a life in hairstyles, but you know, most of the rest of it), but it also has me struggle regularly when things don’t go according to my meticulously thought-out plans.

Malte and I aren’t exactly made from the same mold when it comes to planning, which can be challenging at times (read: it’s high up on our list of things to fight about), but more often than not, we actually really benefit from what we can learn from each other. With Malte’s help and those of friends, for the last couple of years, my focus has been to try and be more laid-back when plans don’t come to life exactly as they do in my head, and to find a better balance. It’s all about accepting and enjoying the one life we have and about not missing out on the beauty of life just because I had a different idea of a few details, all the while still embracing something that has always given me a great deal of joy.

Today, we’re launching a new blog series on working with knitting patterns to help you get through what might seem like a jungle of information, especially if it’s your first time using a knitting pattern. Based on our knitting patterns, we’ll walk you through every step of the process, and you’re more than welcome to let us know in the comments if there’s anything you’d like us to cover. There’s no such thing as a silly question!

Whether or not you celebrate a holiday during this time of year, December is certainly the busiest month of the year for our letter boxes. We, too, love sending out season’s greetings via snail mail, and this week, we’re teaming up with dieUmweltDruckerei, a company we’ve been using for a long time, to take a closer look at how we can make paper communication more sustainable. How can we be respectful of nature’s limited resources, what’s the deal with recycled paper, when does what way of communicating make sense, and what options are out there for us to choose from?

Earlier today, we published a bunch of new designs (nine, to be exact!), and when thinking about how we could make the release day even more fun, we came up with the idea to create a little quiz to help you find out which one of the designs is the best fit for you!

More than ever, we typically find ourselves confronted with endless prompts to buy a million things in December. In response to this time of year’s extra dose of consumerism, we’d love to offer some of our favourite sustainable gift ideas – and I’d love to hear about yours, too, of course!

Whether it’s celebrating Christmas or Hannukah, a bunch of winter birthdays in our circle of friends or just because, this time of year is typically one where the knitters amongst us will often reach for their knitting needles and a beautiful skein of yarn to make something as a gift for a loved one. I, too, absolutely adore using this craft of ours to make someone else happy, and I’m only half joking when I say that knitting is my love language. As a matter of fact, most of what I knit ends up living with family and friends, and this December, I wanted to round up some of my favourite knitwear designs for gift knitting and share a few tips & tricks I have picked up along the way.